Exhibition "In the Forests of Borneo"
The Man of Palms
video transcription
I collected at least twenty species of rotangs (Calamus), and hence I named it the “Rotang Valley (...) Amongst the vegetable forms of a markedly tropical type which greatly predominate in Borneo, the palms are conspicuous
Odoardo Beccari, 1902
A Lifelong Passion
It was in Borneo that Beccari first came to appreciate the incredible evolutionary versatility of palms (family Arecaceae), a group of plants that many mistakenly associate only with the familiar image of coconuts date palms, or indoor Kentia. There, Odoardo took the first steps in a professional path that would make him the world’s leading expert on the group.
He devoted much of his life to their study, publishing over seventy works and creating a “Herbarium of Palms” (Herbarium Palmarum), which was not merely a collection of dried specimens but a true botanical museum, including photographs, drawings, carpological materials, and correspondence, from nearly every country where palms grow. At his death, the collection—comprising approximately 11,000 sheets with over 6,800 specimens , representing 208 genera, 1,630 species, and 344 infraspecific entities—was acquired by the Central Herbarium of Florence.
Beccari was also active in the introduction and acclimatization of exotic palms, exchanging materials with collectors and European institutions, thus contributing to the knowledge, cultivation, and dissemination of these plants in botanical gardens.
The magnificent Chilean Palm (Jubaea chilensis) planted by Odoardo himself in the garden of his villa, Castello del Bisarno, is still alive and thriving just a few kilometers from the center of Florence.
Room of the Italian Central Herbarium in Florence, where Beccari’s Herbarium Palmarum is currently preserved, from Il Museo di storia Naturale dell’Università degli Studi di Firenze: le collezioni botaniche, edited by Mauro Raffaelli, Firenze University Press, 2009
Odoardo Beccari under the Chilean Palm in the garden of Castello del Bisarno, 1918 – Natural History Museum of Florence, Botanical Collections.
An overview of the diversity of palm forms. Natural History Museum of Florence. Botanical Collections.
1 Doum palm infrutescence - Hyphaene thebaica; 2 Matang rattan fruits - Calamus plicatus; 3 Dragon's blood palm fruits - Calamus micracanthus; 4 Ivory Coast raphia palm - Raphia hookeri; 5 Nipah fruit - Nypa fruticans; 6 Philippine rattan trunk - Calamus melanorhynchus; 7 Original drawing of Calamus conicus; 8 Conic-fruited rattan infrutescence - Calamus conirostri; 9 New Guinea palmyra palm infrutescence (rachis) - Borassus heineanus; 10 Palmyra palm frond - Borassus flabellifer; 11 Original photo of an Herbarium Palmarum specimen; 12 Sea coconut seed - Lodoicea maldivica.
Further information: The Palm Herbarium of Odoardo Beccari